ok, so i could choose to store nothing on the tv and everything in my iTunes library?

So, for example, I could buy a movie from my sofa and watch it there and then, but then have it permanently stored in my iTunes library and sync it to my iPhone/iPod for example?

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exactly!

i have a 40 gig apple tv, stream everything, and only synch a few things so that if my computer is off while i'm out of the house, my mom can still use my appletv without having to deal with opening itunes on my imac.

so, 99% of the apple tv's use is streamed content, and it works beautifully.

I'm seriously considering investing in an Apple TV now, but can you all answer these 2 questions:

I want to download Movies, TV Shows, music from TV but have it stored on my iMac and not my TV. Is this how it'll work? If so, why do I need a big Hard Drive on an TV?

Details on the Apple site state that you can view photos in albums in a .Mac account. When this gets upugraded to Me.com in 1 month, will you be able to check your mail and calender via TV too?

Cheers everyone!

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You can store everything on the Mac and stream it to AppleTV. The benefit of syncing is that you will have a backup of your digital media if your hard drive dies or some other catastrophe. Most people who want a large hard drive on the AppleTV is for storage of movies they purchase from iTunes movie store or if they rip their DVD collection and move it to the AppleTV.

Checking mail and calendar in mobileMe is done through a web browser. There is a third party hack that allows web browsing on the AppleTV. This functionality may be included in an AppleTV update. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't want to store digital media on the device, but want to view calendars on it? The Apple TV seems well-suited for the former, and your Mac well-suited for the latter.

HD content is only availible to download or rent on the TV and watch on the TV that content is not allowed to go anywhere else. but for the majority of content in standard def, it will sync back to your computer.

i personally dont have anything on my TV I keep everything on my computer and stream it to my TV. but I have a 400GB movie collection so there is no way it would fit on any TV.

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